Hands up if you’re forever running around like a headless chicken trying to work out where on Earth you put your keys or glasses – only to find them lodged in some improbable place after 10 minutes of frantic searching.
SAME.
So, you might be as intrigued as we were to hear that one expert claims to have come up with an effective but very bizarre hack to stop you ever losing your stuff again: barking like a dog.
Yep, you read that right.
According to human behaviour expert Jez Rose, revealed the theory alongside the brand My Name Tags, barking when you put something down increases your chances of remembering where you put it later on.
‘By consciously carrying out a significant action when you put something down, you are creating a mental tag on that moment,’ he explains.
And the weirder the thing you do, the more effective it could prove.
‘Barking like a dog when you put down your car keys is an extreme example, but the more unusual the action, the more likely you are to remember that moment,’ he adds.
‘The truth is, we all know where our lost items are, we just don’t know how to access the information in our brains, and this is a skill that can be taught.
‘Simple memory training techniques can work wonders for improving your memory and help you to find lost items quicker, or even better, stop you losing things in the first place.’
And, if the idea of barking is just a tad too ridiculous for you to contemplate – and, to be honest, we’re probably with you on that one – then Jez says the best thing you can do next time you lose something is to try and stay calm.
‘We are often inclined to panic and adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormone, are produced,’ he adds.
‘These hormones, along with the urge for the brain to search itself for answers, can create a confusing sensory and information overload, making it impossible to recall where we put our item.’
So, next time your keys are nowhere to be found, maybe just put the kettle on…
